![\"baby](\"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/baby-carrot.jpg\" "\\"baby")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe first on the list was honey. I knew this one. No honey before the age of one due to risk of botulism risk (source<\/a>). Then shellfish. No shellfish before age one because of allergy concerns (source<\/a>). Here I became a little skeptical. But OK, I could hold off on fish for a few more months. Then peanut butter. No peanut butter before the age of three. Three? THREE?<\/em><\/p>\n source<\/a><\/p>\n It really made me wonder about who comes up with these rules and why.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get me wrong. I\u2019m not downplaying the seriousness of a child with a peanut allergy. I know it exists (1% of the US population has a peanut allergy- source<\/a>) and it is a real danger.<\/p>\n However, I feel like there is a bit of hysteria around peanuts and part of me wonders how prevalent the danger truly is. So, I did some research (Ok, some googling). It turns out there is a lot of conflicting data. According to webmd<\/a>, the American Academy of Pediatrics has now rescinded the suggestion to wait until the age of 3. There is also some research that shows that waiting to introduce peanuts until later in childhood may actually increase the risk of developing an allergy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since we have no history of peanut allergies in our family, I won\u2019t be waiting until age 3. In fact, now that I know there isn\u2019t a compelling (to me) argument to hold off, Hailey may have her first taste of peanut butter sooner than later. Heck, she eats eggs pretty regularly and they are another \u201cdangerous\u201d food.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t meant as a PSA on whether or not your child should eat peanut butter. Instead, I just want to take a closer look at why certain foods are to be avoided and make the decision on what is best for Hailey from the facts, not what the omnipotent \u201cthey\u201d say.<\/p>\n This also got me curious as to what other children eat, so\u2026<\/p>\n help me out! This Thursday I\u2019m hosting a link up! If you have children, snap some photos of their daily meals. Post it on Thursday and link up so people can check out what your little one is eating! I\u2019ve noticed a lot of interest in what Hailey eats, so let\u2019s all share what our munchkins are eating and help each other out with meal ideas!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n